A Lost Cause
by MagnusPr1m3
Summary: Balthazar was born on a Friday, when the clouds hung glum and low, and all of the world was hidden away in fear of the oncoming rain. The baby did not cry, just lay there in taking his surroundings in a manner that suggested he was older. He had a tuft of dark blond hair spiking up from his head, small grey wings, and the tiniest hands four year old Gabriel had ever seen. Oneshot


Gabriel did not like it when his two older brothers fought. It absolutely scared the shit out of him; all of the yelling and plain fear that crashed through him whenever he heard the crashes of things being thrown and smashed. Before, when it was only him, Raphael, Lucifer, and Michael, it was easy enough to get away from him. He and Raphael would run off, or he would sometimes struggle to carry his younger brother away before the other could walk, to go visit Joshua in his garden. The elder angel would tell them stories of the humans and other creatures that walked about on Earth, enthralling the children and distracting them from the crashes and other noises coming from the other two archangels fighting.

After the coast was clear, Lucifer would come to fetch them, giving a small nod of thanks to the kind gardener. He often times appeared a bit worse for wear, bruises and lacerations coloring his skin, but would tell his little brothers that it was all fine. They would trek back to their home in utter silence, Raphael falling asleep in Lucifer's arms while Gabriel clung to his pant leg and scampered along soundlessly except the occasional attempt at a question. When they would return, Michael would have already cleaned up their house, pulling out _Sorry,_ their post-fight game of choice, and setting it up. Lucifer would go and put Raphael to bed while Gabriel hurried over to sit down and take his place. The Morningstar would return and the three remaining archangels would sit before the game board and play, thoughts of the quarrel leaving their minds slowly.

This method worked perfectly well, for a while.

Then Balthazar came along.

Balthazar was "born" on a Friday, when the clouds hung glum and low, and all of the world was hidden away in fear of the oncoming rain. The baby did not cry, just lay there in taking his surroundings in a manner that suggested he was older than a newborn. He had a tuft of dark blond hair spiking up from his head, small grey wings, and the tiniest hands four year old Gabriel had ever seen.

Things stayed relatively peaceful for the first few months after Balthazar had arrived, up until the boy was the equivalent of an Earth 2 year old. (Angels age much faster than humans. Balthazar is only three months old right now!) Visits to Joshua were now made on much happier terms than before, for the most part. Balthazar had a knack for running away and hiding for hours in the garden while his older brothers scoured the whole place in order to locate him. Raphael had a skill for finding the younger angel, which often disappointed him. (This fact would come back to bite Balthazar in the ass later in life.) Raphael would drag his little brother out of whatever tree or bush he had taken refuge in and back to the others before heading home, only to do the same the next day.

Balthazar definitely kept them on their toes.

Raphael and Michael tended to stay away from Balthazar, finding the young one and his oddly mature sense of sarcastic humor weird and plain annoying. Which was plenty okay with the young angel, he didn't much like them, anyways. He was rather attached to "Gabey" and "Luci", though. He would flutter about behind them, hating whenever his feet touched the ground like those, "silly hairless apes," on the planet below. Needless to say, he adopted that outlook from Lucifer, and the Morningstar was damn proud of his influence on the other.

That caused more fights to arise between the two eldest siblings. Michael detested anything that went against their father, and scolded Balthazar once for saying such rude things about the humans. Balthazar huffed at the other, saying that, "Luci does it, too!" Which lead to one of the much more major fights in their household that Gabriel had to swoop in and save Balthazar from.

They just barely made it to the coat closet before things turned from bad to worse, Gabriel shielding the then three year old from the brunt of the force and blocking his brother's ears with his hands. The young candy loving archangel shook as he bit back tears, holding Balthazar close and muttering words of reassurance more so to himself than his brother. The youngest of the siblings, at the time, stayed utterly still, shock splaying across his young face as muffled bangs and crashes filtered to his ears.

"Ga-Gabey," He whimpered, whincing as he heard Lucifer cry out in pain. "We gotta 'elp 'im. We gotta 'elp Luci." He tugged at Gabriel's hands in an attempt to free them so he could stand up and reach the doorknob. "We gotta 'elp Luci!"

"No, Balthy, sit down! Shh! We don't want them hearing us!" Gabriel pulled the other close, holding him tightly even as he began to flail "Shhh! Do you want Michael to come in here, too?! Luci is fine! He's always fine."

Balthazar teared up, struggling against the other still. "B-but, 'e can't whoop Mikey's ass all alone. 'e needs our 'elp!" Immediately after he finished talking, all was silent until a bright light filtered under the door and a resounding scream was heard. Balthazar and Gabriel's eyes widened tremendously, bolting up and banging against the door. "Luci! Luci!"

Gabriel was able to twist the knob, flinging the door open and sending him and Balthazar tumbling out. The two rushed to the living room, eyes scanning about for the Morningstar, their precious older brother. But, all that stood there was Michael, shoulder's slumped and a handful of black feathers by his side. Gabriel was only partially aware at the tiny hand that wrapped around his fingers tightly, sniffles already growing in intensity. He gaped as Michael just slowly turned around, giving them a grave look.

"It had to be done."

The young redheaded angel growled at this, launching at his brother with balled up fist and beating uselessly at his chest as Balthazar just cried. "You bastard! How could you? He was your brother! He was _my _brother! I hate you!" The 'I hate yous' continued on for several minutes as Balthazar just curled up on the floor, Michael taking the abuse with a blank look on his face. Meanwhile, Raphael watched from the doorway, shocked and unsure of how to react. He eventually just turned away, heading off to the garden to tell Joshua, although he already knew.

Balthazar fell asleep on the living room floor, tear tracks covering his cheeks. Gabriel eventually ran out of breath and strength and just collapsed to his knees before his elder brother. Michael stepped around them both then, slipping away to some unknown place and leaving the seven and three year old home alone.

That was the first of many lonely nights that Gabe and Balthazar spent prior to Lucifer being cast down.

* * *

Life went on after the archangel left; more angels were born, the last being Castiel. Balthazar and Gabriel moved on, attaching themselves to the youngest angel in the way that Lucifer did when both of them were young. They brought him up, raising him just as their older brother would. All was right.

Until Gabriel grew tired of Michael acting as if nothing happened, as if their brother was not now the ruler of the underworld.

The day Gabriel left, everyone heard it. _Everyone. _He left in an uproar, wounding not only Micheal, but also Raphael, Uriel, and any others stupid enough to stop him. No one could get in his way without being harmed.

Not even Balthazar and Castiel.

Castiel was three at the time, and Balthazar was eighteen. Both tried their best to convince their brother to stay, if not for their benefit then for his own. Balthazar even went as low as to bring up the Lucifer incident, as it had been dubbed. That got him quite the smack in the face.

"Don't ever, _ever _bring him up like that again, Balthazar!" The archangel yelled, palm a little sore from the force of the slap. "Luci did not _want _to leave us! He was forced to! I'm leaving because I can't take anymore of the bullshit up here! Any of it! Sorry, Balthazar, but not even you and Cassie are worth that headache."

With that one last stab to their hearts, Gabriel left. Once more, Balthazar was had to sleep in that house with only one of his brothers, instead of all of them like he wished. He never knew it could hurt so bad, especially not after Lucifer. Seemed he was wrong, dreadfully so.

* * *

Yet again, life went on. Castiel grew, forgetting a little more every day about the betrayal of their brother-turned-trickster. He was a very devout young angel, much like Balthazar imagined Lucifer once was, minus the somewhat sick sense of humor. Life went well for them in heaven, minus the occasional fall of an angel. But, after those first two, Balthazar didn't really care anymore. Let them go to Earth and be with their Father's "precious humans". Better them than him.

With each passing day, Balthazar grew bitter. His jokes became harsher, his plots more wicked. Not a word could fall from his lips without sarcasm lacing his British accent. People just passed it off as Balthazar going through a rebellious phase, or him getting grumpy in his old age. Michael stilled muttered his name angrily or with huge amounts of annoyance as he did when Balthazar was a toddler, shaking his head in disappointment whenever the other was brought to him for getting in trouble.

"_Don't be like Lucifer," _He'd say.

"_Bite me, Michael." _Balthazar spat the same words every single time before trudging off to wherever he was going.

Balthazar was deemed a lost cause.

* * *

Surprise was a shared feeling all throughout Heaven when Castiel and Uriel brought back news of Balthazar's death, right after everyone heard of two important artifacts being stolen. Castiel, trench coat clad and fighting to keep his face blank, held out the angel blade of his brother to Michael upon his and Uriel's return, blue eyes locked on his feet. Michael took it in stiff hands and nodded, motioning for Castiel and Uriel to leave him be. He maintained his calm until they left, finally crying after the loss of three of his brothers he held closest.

Balthazar died on a Friday, when the clouds hung glum and low, yet the world below was as busy as ever nowadays. Michael cried, hands clenching the angel blade tightly as he went to see the place his brother took his final breath. Balthazar still lay there, dark blond hair spiking up from his head, large black wing marks burnt into the ground around him, and the happiest smile Micheal had ever seen.


End file.
